He might be stating a fact. I do not know if Europe discourages private charities by not allowing a tax exeption. If you remember, and I am unsure exactly when, that there was a cut to the amount of charitable deductions one could take on their taxes here in the US. It was in my opinion a blantant attempt to discourage donations outside of our forced income tax program.
England has a VAT. This means no deductions are necessary.
If the only reason we give to charity is a tax deduction, we are not being charitable. If we had a national sales tax and no deductions, we would still give to charity, probably in larger amounts, since we could keep more of our own money.
I resent our government taking our money to give to other countries against our own interests.
There is a tax exemption in Europe (at least in France). Half of what you give is deductible, IIRC.